The prior art includes a number of partial and complete solutions to the problem of controlling and guiding unmanned vehicles. Many prior art systems use the following systems, individually or in combination, to determine the angle and relative position between a group of unmanned vehicles: a global positioning system (GPS); utilizing wireless signals and various algorithms to calculate the relative position of the vehicles; laser range finders (LRF); systems using cameras; sound navigation or ranging (SONAR) systems; and radio detection and ranging (RADAR) systems.
However, the aforementioned solutions have a number of drawbacks. Firstly, the GPS system does not function efficiently in urban zones or between buildings. Secondly, the SONAR and LRF systems that are mounted on unmanned vehicles can assist by determining the distance between vehicles and objects within the vehicle's line of sight However, these systems are not capable of specifically identifying objects. Therefore, it is impossible to determine whether the measured distance is the distance to another vehicle or an unknown object. Thirdly, there are no commercially available camera systems that can be mounted aboard unmanned vehicles and that can assist with locating and identifying a neighbouring vehicle in real time.
As such, there is a need for a system that is capable of relative localization between at least two manned or unmanned vehicles in real-time or near real-time.